Painting, oil on canvas, 1654, 130 x 193.5 cm. The inscription reads: "Because it is not the custom for distinguished Turkish ladies to leave the house or to meet foreigners, they invite each other to their houses and entertain themselves with dance, comedy and other such entertainment".

Print, 1876, 25.1 x 21.3 cm. Athens, Alkis Raftis Collection. Adrianople is the old name for Edirne, a town in Eastern Thrace, Turkey.

A harem scene

Valentin Mueller (attributed)

Gouache, 1654, 130 x 193 cm. After a series of gouaches executed following the visit of the Austrian delegation which left Vienna for Constantinople in July 1628.

Entertaining figures gathered around a Kursi

Painting, oil on canvas, 1750 approx., 35.5 x 48.5 cm. Most probably a work of a Venetian artist established in Constantinople. Kursi is a table covered with cloth, underneath which a brazier provides warmth.

Marriage of the Sultan's daughter - fête at Baltaliman

Print, 1854, 15.2 x 23.5 cm. Athens, Alkis Raftis Collection. Nuptials of Fathma Sultane and Ali Gholib Pacha, son of Redschid Pacha, celebrated with great magnificence at Constantinople, at the Palace of Baltaliman, which the Sultan has presented to his daughter as a part of her dowry.

The Sweet Waters of Asia

Johann Michael Wittmer (Germany, 1802-1880)

Painting, oil on canvas, 1837 approx., 81 x 118.5 cm. At the center is shown the crown prince of Bavaria Maximilian. The Sweet Waters of Asia is where two streams, the Göksu and the Küçüksu flow into the Bosphorus opposite Constantinople (Istanbul).

Manuscript illumination, miniature, 1689 approx. Valide Sultana was the most powerful woman in the imperial harem. This work was commissionned by Madame Girardin, wife of the French ambassador to the Sublime Porte.

Four köçek dancers performing on a rope and two other on a boat, while the Sultan is watching